Hugh Durkin

Yes, I know the title isn’t elegant. But the complexity of it reflects a real challenge for SaaS leaders: where to start when hiring someone to manage integration-focused partnerships.

Cycle is “the fastest way for your team to capture product feedback and share customer insights – without the busywork.”

Whether you’ve just launched your first listing in your first App Marketplace, or you’re managing tens of listings across lots of App Marketplaces, there will always be one evolving challenge to deal with.

Around 2013, a few years after Facebook launched our Ads API, we started to hear concerning feedback from some of our earliest partners. “The ecosystem is saturated” said some.

There’s a common misperception that App Marketplaces and their partner ecosystems are small, elite clubs. Many newcomers to ISV partnerships believe an intro to the C-Suite at Salesforce, Meta, Atlassian, or Shopify is the first step towards a successful partnership with them.

In early 2019, during my first few months at HubSpot, we held a “Connect Partner Day” at our HQ in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was our last “Connect Partner” event - we redesigned and relaunched the App Partner Program (and launched the HubSpot App Marketplace at INBOUND later that year.

I’ve had a lot of conversations over the years with partners looking for real-life examples of high-quality App Marketplace listings. One of my favourites is HubSpot App Partner, OrgChartHub.

I’ve grown fond of comparing platform economies with real world economies. “Platforms” are fairly abstract things - intangible for most - so relating them with familiar concepts and principles makes them easier to understand.

It’s been fun to watch the growth of Threads. Earning 20% of the weekly active user base of Twitter within two weeks is impressive, even for Zuck.